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Hellboy (character)
Hellboy is the titular protagonist of the 2004 Columbia Pictures film with the same name, and its 2008 sequel for Universal Studios, Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Background Personality Hellboy, even though he is considered a monster by most people, is actually good-hearted; he would rather protect the Earth than bring doom to it as he is truly destined to do. He is sometimes shown to be rebellious, even though his agency, the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, is a top-secret organization. He loves making appearances on TV, much to Tom Manning's chagrin. Development Hellboy originated with a drawing Mike Mignola did at a comic book convention of a demon with the name "Hellboy" written on his belt. Mignola had no intention of doing anything serious with the concept, but eventually decided he liked the name. Later, Mignola became interested in doing a creator-owned comic, as he felt it made more sense to create his own characters for the stories he wanted to tell, rather than trying to shoehorn existing characters into these stories. Mignola elaborated, "The kinds of stories I wanted to do I had in mind before I created Hellboy. It’s not like I created Hellboy and said, 'Hey, now what does this guy do?' I knew the kinds of stories I wanted to do, but just needed a main guy." He initially created Hellboy as part of a team of five, but scrapped this idea when he realized he could not think of any team names that he liked. Much like other American comic book superheroes such as Batman, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Iron Man, Daredevil, and Spawn, Hellboy is constantly tormented by the knowledge of his past. One example being in Wake the Devil where he describes his mindset since the aftermath of Seed of Destruction by saying, "I like not knowing. I've gotten by for fifty-two years without knowing. I sleep good not knowing." Physical Appearance Hellboy has red skin, stumps where his horns are on his forehead, a long tail, a stone hand, called the "Right Hand of Doom", a muscular physique, with yellow eyes and a human face. Powers and Abilities Hellboy generally possesses superhuman strength, as he is capable of lifting very heavy or large objects. Despite his heavyweight appearance, he is also very athetic, as he has considerable speed. Role in the film After Professor Trevor Broom/Bruttenholm and the United States soldiers stop the Nazis and Grigori Efimovich Rasputin from opening a portal to awaken the Ogdru Jahad, the seven gods of chaos, they discover an infant red creature, whom Bruttenholm adopts and calls "Hellboy". Sixty years later, Hellboy works for the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense as a monster hunter. He also makes a habit of visiting his estranged girlfriend Elizabeth "Liz" Sherman, much to the dismay of the bureau, who has no intention of returning to the bureau. One day, the bureau brings in a new partner for Hellboy, John Myers from the FBI. Hellboy isn't too pleased about him. Meanwhile, Karl Ruprecht Kroenen, Adolf Hitler's top assassin and head of the Thule society, and Ilsa von Haupstein resurrect Rasputin in the mountains of Moldova by killing their guide, and the trio release a demonic creature known as Sammael, giving it the ability to spawn two new creatures every time one dies. Eventually, Hellboy, his psychic and amphibious humanoid partner Abe Sapien, and a few other agents go to the subway to track down and destroy Sammael's other eggs. When Rasputin visits Liz and causes her to burn down the Bellamie Hospital, Myers goes to the hospital and convinces her to return to the bureau. Hellboy becomes increasingly jealous when Liz and Myers go out for a date and steathily follows them. Back at the bureau, Bruttenholm is confronted by Kroenen (who had been brought back to the bureau) and Rasputin, who reveal that Hellboy is destined to destroy the world, before Bruttenholm is killed by Kroenen. Hellboy, FBI Special Operations Head Tom Manning, Liz, and Myers track Rasputin's mausoleum to Moscow, Russia. The group is separated shortly after entering, though Hellboy and Manning find Kroenen's hideout and defeat him. Hellboy then reunites with Myers and Liz shortly after they encounter the remaining Sammael creatures, and are overwhelmed. Fortunately, Liz uses her pyrokinetic abilities to kill them all, burning the eggs as well. They are then captured by Haupstein and Rasputin. Rasputin sucks out Liz's soul and manipulates Hellboy to release the Ogdru Jahad in exchange for her soul. Hellboy awakens as Anung Un Rama, regrowing his horns, and begins to release the Ogdru Jahad. However, Myers convinces Hellboy to make his own choice, reminding him of what Bruttenholm brought him up to be; Hellboy snaps off his horns and stabs Rasputin with one of them. A creature from the Ogdru Jahad emerges from his body, grows gigantic, and kills both him and Haupstein. Hellboy destroys the beast by blowing it up internally with a grenade belt, and then whispers in Liz's ear, reviving her, and they kiss. Relationships Abe Sapien Liz Sherman Trivia *According to Mignola, Hellboy’s personality was primarily based on Mignola’s father, a worker who often came home with many injuries, but always shrugged them off with dry humor. *Originally, Hellboy was to be a member of a superhero team Mignola conceived, but the artist abandoned the team-concept when he failed to come up with suitable names for the other heroes. *Lauded Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, who is an acknowledged major fan of Mignola’s work, wrote the introduction to the hardcover edition of the Conqueror Worm arc. Del Toro would later go on to direct the two live-action Hellboy films thus far. *Hellboy’s name was born out of what began as a private joke to Mignola, who had randomly come up with the word, saying that he found the name “hilarious.” *The Hellboy comic books, as well as the general artistic style of Mignola’s work, was tremendously influenced by the art of famed comic-book illustrator Jack Kirby, as well as influences by Gustav Dore, H. P. Lovecraft, and even Bram Stoker’s famed novel Dracula, which is one of Mignola’s favorites. *In the film, Hellboy is often referred to as a demon by other characters, despite in comics, his true nature was a half-demon. 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